Microsoft has released some preliminary hardware recommendations for Windows XP, including the questionable “does not allow end-user access to expansion bus cards”. Here’s ZDNet’s report .
More items on the list that worry me include “must not display any BIOS text during startup” and “Monitor is a flat-panel display”. It seems like Microsoft really wants computers to look pretty, regardless of practical concerns.

On the bright side, they are recommending at least four USB ports and two IEEE-1394 (FireWire) ports. So perhaps expansion cards won’t be a real concern.

ZDNet’s David Coursey says that some of these are requirements and some are recommendation, and he has kindly made no distinction between them “for simplicity’s sake”. I’m looking for details from Microsoft and will post them here.